Falling For The Same Old Crap Over and Over Again

Long before the Iraq War, the Bush Administration was doing everything wrong with all of the enthusiasm it could muster:

The Iran-related report [issued by the Senate Intelligence Committee] focuses on the series of meetings in Rome held over three days in December 2001. The U.S. was fighting in Afghanistan and working on initial planning for the Iraq war.

Then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley authorized the meetings. Two Pentagon employees, one of whom worked for then-Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Doug Feith, went to Rome to meet with two Iranians - one a current member of the security service, the second a former member. Manucher Ghorbanifar, an Iranian middleman already dismissed by the CIA as untrustworthy, also attended, as did a representative from an unspecified foreign government's intelligence service. Michael Ledeen, a former Pentagon official and an analyst with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, arranged the meeting and attended.

In one meeting, Ghorbanifar pressed for a change of government in Iran and, on a napkin, outlined a plan to do that, saying he would need $5 million to set it in motion, according to the report.

The report said Hadley failed to fully inform then-CIA Director George Tenet and then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage about the meeting. But Hadley and the Pentagon were within their rights to conduct the meeting, the report said.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Hadley notified all parties concerned appropriately.

But the report said Defense Department officials refused to allow "potentially useful and actionable intelligence" to be shared with intelligence agencies, even in the Defense Intelligence Agency. Then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz briefed the head of the DIA on the Iranian intelligence but would not let him discuss it, the report said.

[UPDATE - 9:48AM - Who can forget Laura Rozen's brilliant piece on what transpired in Rome? I did! And I'm an idiot for not putting this in sooner.]

CIA sources are unconvinced. “They drag these guys out and say they’re from the Revolutionary Guard,” Tyler Drumheller, the former CIA director for Europe, told me. “In fact, they’re actually from some rug store. In any city, it’s an industry.”

Anyone who claims that there is no truth to the charge that the Bush Administration "cooked" the intelligence and failed to heed the warnings of the intelligence community can be refuted with one simple point--the people in charge weren't smart enough to figure out that they were being manipulated by Iran:

Defense Department counterintelligence investigators suspected that Iranian exiles who provided dubious intelligence on Iraq and Iran to a small group of Pentagon officials might have "been used as agents of a foreign intelligence service ... to reach into and influence the highest levels of the U.S. government," a Senate Intelligence Committee report said Thursday.

Now we know why they want to attack Iran--they're mad that the Iranians made them look like the fools the really are. Nothing is done in the service of the greater good or the interests of the country; everything these people do is a reaction best described as a pants-wetting fit of inconsolable rage personified by red, rosy cheeks, flustered huffing, and prodigious foot stomping. These men are morally bankrupt, emotionally stunted, and traumatically immature grown children with serious issues.

Were we appeasing them before we were against appeasing them? That's rhetorical question number one. Number two is, who is stupid enough to think that anything useful would come out of a back channel to the Iranian government? And rhetorical question three is, when does anyone see real, meaningful accountability and punishment for their horrendous judgement?

When Blue Girl and I were screaming in the wilderness against legions of doubters and deniers, we sure could have used a great deal of this information. What has come out in the last few days would have been enormously useful to us, even though we kind of already knew in the first place.
Who knew it would be THIS bad?

Bush's press secretary, Dana Perino, said the problem was flawed intelligence heading into the war. "We had the intelligence that we had, fully vetted, but it was wrong. And we certainly regret that," she said.

According to Rockefeller, the problem was that the Bush administration concealed information that would have undermined the case for war. "We might have avoided this catastrophe," he said.

However, the report found that intelligence substantiated most of the administration's statements about Iraq before the war. But officials often did not mention the level of dissension or uncertainty in the intelligence agencies about the information.

Two Republicans, Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia Snowe of Maine, endorsed the report.

The committee's five other Republicans, however, assailed it as a partisan exercise. They accused Democrats of covering for their own members, including Rockefeller and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who made similar statements about Iraq based on the same intelligence the Bush administration used.

The McClatchy story adds a few more details:

The revelation raises questions about whether Iran may have used a small cabal of officials in the Pentagon and in Vice President Dick Cheney's office to feed bogus intelligence on Iraq and Iran to senior policymakers in the Bush administration who were eager to oust the Iraqi dictator.

Iran, which was a mortal enemy of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and fought a bloody eight-year war with Iraq during his reign, has been the primary beneficiary of U.S. policy in Iraq, where Iranian-backed groups now run much of the government and the security forces.

The aborted counterintelligence investigation probed some Pentagon officials' contacts with Iranian exile Manucher Ghorbanifar, whom the CIA had labeled a "fabricator" in 1984. Those contacts were brokered by an American civilian, Michael Ledeen, a former Pentagon and National Security Council consultant and a leading advocate of invading Iraq and overthrowing Iran's Islamic regime.

According to the Senate report, the Pentagon's Counterintelligence Field Activity unit concluded in 2003 that Ledeen "was likely unwitting of any counterintelligence issues related to his relationship with Mr. Ghorbanifar."

The counterintelligence unit said, however, that Ledeen's association with Ghorbanifar "was widely known, and therefore it should be presumed other foreign intelligence services, including those of Iran, would know."

Stephen Cambone, then the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, shut down the counterintelligence investigation after only a month, the Senate report said.

Congratulations, Michael Ledeen. You were played like a chump by a figure with no credibility whatsoever. You and the rest of your ilk did the greatest disservice possible to your country--you had a hand in sending thousands of US troops to their death because you were driven by ideology not patriotism. None of the men involved in this debacle can call themselves patriots, ever. They are stripped of that right by the judgement of history.

If someone bumps into Ledeen, ask him. What's it like to be king of the chumps today? With all of that blood on your hands?

Ask all of them that question. Their answers should consist of silence and shame, and nothing more. They are miserable, shameful failures and their public service has been a disgrace of epic proportions.

Alphonso Jackson: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Over at Talking Points Memo, they've got the goods on Alphonso Jackson, the delusional HUD secretary who was forced to quit recently:

...the Washington Post reports on three minority HUD contractors who in very short spans went from few, if any, HUD contracts to many millions of dollar's worth. The common denominator for all three firms was that they were well-connected in GOP circles or with HUD officials.

Now that may be a scandal in itself, but so is what happened to the career HUD staffers who raised questions.

The contract specialist who flagged concerns about one of the companies was asked to return to her previous job within HUD, the Post reports. "At that point, the top procurement people -- Jo Baylor and Annette Hancock -- decided my services would no longer be needed because I was a pain in their neck," said Gloria Freeman, the specialist, who has since retired.

Another contracting specialist, also since retired, was reassigned to a different HUD job within weeks of finding that one of the companies had submitted an exaggerated claim under the contract and instead owed HUD money.

The Post doesn't link these three contractors directly to Jackson; rather, their rapid rise despite performance issues is symptomatic of HUD during the Jackson era. This isn't the first time retaliation has been alleged. The Philadelphia public housing director is suing for retaliation, alleging that his refusal to help out a Jackson buddy led HUD to take enforcement action against the housing authority as punishment. Emails previously published by the Washington Post suggest a warped management climate within HUD, with one HUD official asking another, "Would you like me to make his life less happy? If so, how?"

The Washington Post goes on to detail the work of Gloria Freeman, who, like Bunnatine Greenhouse, stood up against the onslaught of incompetence and corruption and paid the price for it:

During a few weeks in 2004, the three-employee company, Harrington, Moran and Barksdale Inc. (HMBI), went from no government work to landing $71 million in contracts with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to oversee the upkeep and sale of defaulted homes. It had previously managed a handful of apartment buildings and development projects.

The company's meteoric rise -- and HUD's willingness to bend the rules to accommodate it -- surprised veteran agency contracting specialist Gloria Freeman.

"After you've been in the business awhile, you get to know the signs -- 'This is a friend; let's help him out,' " she said in an interview. Not long after Freeman complained to her supervisors, she was asked to return to her previous policy job.

[SNIP]

HMBI, of Fort Worth, was led by Republicans with significant HUD experience. Chief executive Maurice Barksdale was an assistant secretary to Reagan-era HUD Secretary Samuel R. Pierce Jr. and became a minor figure in a 1980s political favoritism scandal. Its vice president, Albert Moran, also worked at the agency during the Reagan years.

Listed as having three employees in 2004 when it won its first contract, HMBI has accumulated $282 million in HUD work, all but $18.8 million of it in small-business awards. Former and current contract officials said staff members questioned HMBI's qualifications.

Contract specialist Freeman said she first ran into trouble when she insisted that the company follow procedures and post a required bond. She said her supervisor proposed waiving the requirement. Freeman prevailed, and HMBI posted the money.

Tensions mounted again when Freeman objected to a fifth contract award that HMBI was seeking. She and others at HUD feared that the company could not handle more work. Her bosses did not want HMBI to fail or to trigger a Small Business Administration review of the company's abilities, she said. Freeman opposed her bosses' rule-bending efforts to try to avoid that review. Later, she said, she and another official persuaded Barksdale to withdraw the bid.

"At that point, the top procurement people -- Jo Baylor and Annette Hancock -- decided my services would no longer be needed because I was a pain in their neck," she said. After moving back to the policy job, she retired in 2005.

The whole sordid tale of Alphonso Jackson is a microcosm of this administration--cheap, tawdry behavior, the fox guarding the henhouse, the hand in the cookie jar, whatever you want to call it--and it is a sad and troubling example of what happens when cronyism rules the day.

Congress Blasts the FDA for being Incompetent

This is what oversight is supposed to look like:

(AP) House members chastised the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday for not doing more inspections of foreign drug manufacturers in the wake of a litany of problems with the blood thinner heparin and other products.

"Last year, this nation's regulatory failures resulted in dead dogs and cats. This year, it has tragically led to the deaths of people," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich. "If we don't make some rapid progress on fixing the foreign drug inspection program, the next melamine or heparin tragedy will soon be upon us."

FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach told a House subcommittee that he has asked the administration for more money to conduct inspections, but he did not specify how much. He agreed that more inspections are needed, but not to the lengths Democrats suggested, which is to inspect every foreign firm every two to three years.

"I don't believe that's the solution to the problem," von Eschenbach said. "It's much more complex, and the solution needs to be much more comprehensive than simply inspecting a facility."

Typical spin from a Bush loyalist--regularly checking out firms is costly, time-consuming and makes everyone pull nervously at their collar, but it's virtually the only way to ensure compliance with the law. What do you get when you "trust" the industry or industries to "self-regulate?" You get cost-cutting, corner-cutting, and dead people.

Spare me that "government is the problem" and that "libertarian" bullshit on this one--the only thing that is going to ensure that we even approach having a safe supply of materials is to have a hard-assed inspector with a clipboard and an eye for detail looking into what these firms are up to.

Republican members of the subcommittee were in agreement with Democrats that the lack of foreign inspections is a big problem.

"We have already heard the numbers that show the imbalance in risk priorities, with most domestic firms inspected about every two years, but literally hundreds of foreign firms that have not seen an inspection, if at all, in a decade," said Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill. "Clearly these priorities need to be brought closer into balance."

The Government Accountability Office testified Tuesday that the FDA was making progress in conducting more inspections of foreign drug manufacturers, but still inspects relatively few facilities.

The agency conducted 30 such inspections in the last fiscal year and plans to conduct at least 50 this year, according to government auditors.

That's not nearly enough for members of Congress, who point out that there are more than 3,200 foreign drug firms listed by the FDA.

Of course the Republicans agreed--they're not THAT batshit crazy. See, it's not about ideology. It's not about letting the market decide or the individual do for themselves. It's about a safe supply of fucking drugs that actually work. So, out of 3,200 firms, we're inspecting 80 over a two year period? How the hell is that supposed to keep the American people safe? How hard is it to actually do the job? You'd think there wasn't a Bush appointee alive who was even remotely capable of showing up for work.

The Delusions of Alphonso Jackson

For a man who's going to go down as nothing more than a lackey and an ethically-challenged chump, he sure knows how to throw himself a lavish going away party:

Last Wednesday, Alphonso Jackson got the send off he deserved, as you can see from the cover of the program for the event obtained by TPMmuckraker. The event, which was held in the main auditorium at HUD, included an overflow crowd of about 1,000 HUD employees, said HUD spokesman Jerry Brown. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was the special guest speaker at the event, Brown said.

Despite the regal appearance of the program, Brown said that the event mainly involved "a slide show and a person who sang the national anthem." It was "pretty much the standard fare when a secretary departs." You can bet that the slide show contained plenty of pictures of Jackson -- and maybe even a painting or two.

You know, you only get to have the loving photo composite done when you've accomplished something. You only get the admiration and the respect when you can point to one Goddamned thing that you've done that actually made life better for people. The only thing missing were the children with flower baskets, dancing about, throwing petals upon the very floor where Mr. Jackson might trod...the better to cushion his tender, royal feet with the soft petals of that which are so very not as wonderful as he.

There are royal weddings that aren't as lavish as Jackson's "get the hell out of town before the indictments hit" party. Jeebus. What a delusional train wreck of a Federal political appointee.

h/t to TPMMuckraker...

Olympic Flame Extinguished

I don't know if this even counts as news anymore, but here goes:

PARIS - Security officials extinguished the Olympic torch for a second time on Monday amid heavy protests during the torch relay in Paris.

Police escorted the flame onto a bus, apparently to move it away from protesters.

The flame was being carried out of a Paris traffic tunnel by an athlete in a wheelchair when it was stopped because protesters booed and began chanting "Tibet."

It was the second time Monday that officials extinguished the torch amid protests. The procession was apparently being continued on board a bus.

When the torch passed through London a day earlier, police repeatedly scuffled with protesters. One tried to grab the torch, while another tried to snuff out the flame with what appeared to be a fire extinguisher. Thirty-seven people were arrested.

Activists angry about China’s human rights record and a recent crackdown on Tibet have been protesting along the torch route since the flame embarked on a 85,000-mile journey from Ancient Olympia in Greece to Beijing for the Aug. 8-24 Olympic Games.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has even raised the possibility of signaling his discontent over China’s human rights record, suggesting he might boycott the Olympic opening ceremony.

The Summer Olympics really don't have any significance for me. I am a Winter Olympics person because of hockey--Olympic hockey is skill oriented on a larger rink and the game flows much faster. The NHL made attempts this season to replicate that as best it could by allowing the two line pass, but I digress.

Next time, don't award the Olympics to a country that has issues with international law, torture, coal mine safety, product safety, health safety, human rights, allowing the formation of trade unions, militarily occupying other countries and the environment.

In short, scratch China and the US from any future plans. (Thanks again, Bush Administration--you're hell-bent on beating China to the bottom, aren't you?) And you could scrap the Summer Olympics entirely and it wouldn't bother me a bit.

Is our government learning anything?

I hate to bump Blue Girl down the page--the post she has that follows this one is excellent. You MUST read it and feel good about our chances this Fall.

But I have to break in with this tidbit:

A laptop computer with patient information on more than 2-thousand people was taken from a lab official at the National Institutes of Health.

It happened in February.

But the news is just now coming out, according to The Washington Post.

The laptop was swiped at a swim meet in Montgomery County.

NIH officials did not notify the media--or the patients involved--because of fears it would provoke undue alarm, the Post reported.

The information was not encrypted as is standing policy.

Goddamn it, what's it going to take? What's it going to take to get the people who control this administration to stop lying, stop blocking bad news, stop endangering the American people with their incompetence--and to start clearing out the fucking dead wood employees who can't use basic judgement?

And, hello, government employee who no doubt makes an excellent living that most Americans living throughout this country cannot imagine right now because their own standard of living is being driven into the toilet by stagnant wages, high prices and mortgage scams? Can you listen up for a sec? You took your government-issued NIH laptop to a fucking swim meet? You didn't just lock it in your fucking office or your fucking car like everyone else? You didn't spend twenty bucks and get a safety lock cable? And it had a lot of sensitive information about American citizens on it? And you didn't encrypt it, didn't detach the data by storing it on an encrypted and locked removeable drive, didn't fucking LOCK IT or safeguard it? You lost it a fucking swim meet? You just had to sit there and noodle around with it and look at stupid shit, didn't you? Well, aren't you too cool for school. Thanks for your service. What's it like to go through life like that dumbass, I wonder? No, I don't. I don't wonder. I just drop to one knee and shake my head, numb from embarrassment for what this country is turning into.

Pardon my francais, but what's it going to take? Seriously.

None Shall Serve Their Country

You know, this is what happens when your administration is a disgrace.

The Bush administration has been rebuffed in its efforts to find a high-profile candidate to fill the top White House counterterrorism post.

The failure to find a successor to Frances Fragos Townsend, who resigned last January as assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, has frustrated White House aides, given the significance the Bush administration has attached to the job. The position involves coordinating antiterrorism and homeland security efforts throughout the government and chairing the Homeland Security Council, a domestic counterpart to the National Security Council that President Bush created after the September 11 attacks.

Among those who have turned down the job—or made clear they weren't interested in replacing Townsend—are retired Army Gen. John Abizaid, former chief of U.S. Central Command, and retired Adm. James Loy, former Coast Guard commandant and deputy homeland security secretary, according to three sources knowledgeable about the issue who, like others quoted in this article, asked for anonymity when discussing White House personnel moves. (Neither Abizaid nor Loy responded to requests for comment.) The sources said most of the top candidates the White House contacted expressed little interest in signing on so close to the end of President Bush's second term. "It's a friggin' embarrassment," said one source who is involved in the recruitment process. The source noted that Townsend announced her resignation last November but didn't leave the post until January—in part to give the president plenty of time to find a replacement.

[SNIP]

The homeland security job is not the only key counterterrorism post the Bush administration is having trouble filling. As NEWSWEEK reported earlier this month, White House officials have spent months searching for a new candidate to head the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). The previous chief, retired Vice Adm. John Scott Redd, left for health reasons last October. Several highly experienced candidates have turned down invitations to become NCTC director.

There's a patriotism angle here--and that is, simply, if your country needs you, and you can serve, you should be prepared to answer as to why you won't. Abizaid and Loy should have said "I refuse to serve because I disagree with this administration." You don't duck the calls and hope no one notices. Then there's a common sense angle--why didn't anyone anticipate that a bunch of Republicans would bail on a failed administration to get back into the private sector ahead of the rush that will happen when a Democrat gets elected this fall? Money before country, you know. Finally, it comes down to this--the country is so poorly led and mismanaged right now, there is no one to step up and do the vital things we need to have done to adequately protect the country. It's so bad, they're handing out plum jobs to unqualified also-rans who just happened to have a pulse when the job came open.

Here's a quick hit from USA Jobs.com as to what's "open" down in Washington D.C.

OPENINGS, sorted by Salary, USAJOBS.COM, all qualified openings, Washington D.C. only, as of 3/18/2008 (click to enlarge):




I had to stop at 60--there are over 300 jobs that pay over $100K a year that are vacant in Washington D.C. alone. That doesn't take into account job openings throughout the country at that level. I tell everyone I meet that the DC area--which now has the three richest counties in America, according to a recent Forbes magazine article--has not felt the crunch that the rest of the country has felt because of the explosion in the size of the government AND the increase in the use of contractors. There are people in my hometown in the midwest who are getting arrested for stealing scrap metal. True story--a couple drove about 90 miles, probably burned at least 12 bucks worth of gas to go round trip, just to put scrap metal in their car to take to a dealer.

To them, a $100K a year job in Washington D.C. must sound like something out of a fairy tale.

You're Kidding, Right?

It's like we're all on acid...everything is distorted and messed up...nothing makes any sense...and the neocons keep telling everyone how things really aren't:

`Enormous Credibility'
``He's got enormous credibility there, and is able to say to them in words of one syllable that they need to get their act together,'' John Bolton, the former UN ambassador, said.

Cheney plans to travel throughout the country. Among the topics on his agenda are pushing Iraqi leaders to pass an oil law that would help encourage international energy companies to invest in production, said a senior administration official who briefed reporters on the trip.

The U.S. is in the process of pulling five of 20 combat brigades out of Iraq, totaling about 20,000 soldiers. Petraeus has said he wants to take time to assess security after the withdrawal ends in mid-July.

At least 3,978 U.S. military personnel have died in Iraq and another 29,395 have been wounded, according to Department of Defense figures.

A majority of the U.S. public, 53 percent, said a victory in Iraq isn't possible, according to a Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll conducted March 7-10. Fifty-two percent said most troops should be withdrawn by 2009.

Enormous credibility? Conduct diplomacy with one-syllable words?

Fuck if I can't figure out what's going on. You'd have to be on acid to believe this shit.

Speaking of being on acid:

CNN’s Kyra Phillips speaks to some Iraqi soldiers about the U.S. presidential election and democracy in Iraq. While they spoke enthusiastically about the American soldiers teaching them discipline and how to effectively combat their enemies in Iraq, the soldiers were less effusive in their praise for those managing the war and their plans for bringing about democracy. Phillips tried in vain to locate any McCain supporters among the group.

“Just to be perfectly clear here, I did ask them are you following any of the republican candidates?…Do you want to talk about John McCain? Within that whole group, not one wanted a republican in the US presidential seat. They were all for a democrat. They were all for that type of change because they said they were living a republican war.”

Wow! CNN found a whole bunch of "fake troops" who hate America! Sarcasm intended.

Heckuva Job, Bernancke--Time to Distract Everyone!

When he has to say this:

BREAKING NEWS: Bush says administration is 'on top of the situation' in dealing with the economy

It really means this:

BREAKING NEWS: Sales of medieval weapons and texts on casting out evil spirits soar; barter system approved by temporary Congress; millions of rioting people smited with powerful laser weapons whose existence not previously disclosed.

Soon--very soon--either a whole lot of people will lose their jobs or there will be pronouncements of "I serve at the pleasure of the President" crowding out the bad news.

And isn't it time for someone blonde and beautiful to come along and distract us from all of this icky bad news? Isn't it time for people to start distracting us from the bad news?


You know, whoever advised Heather Mills in her divorce from Paul McCartney could probably do a better job--she asked for a hundred million, was offered fifty million, and now only gets 48.6 million. If we had that kind of crackerjack leadership in this country, we'd only be moderately screwed blue and left by the side of the road.

Nah, I think we're gonna need more distraction than that. For example, instead of paying attention to current events, your typical conservative blogger goes for the cheap stuff to fill up space. Case in point--Ace of Spades gets his love on:

Coffee, Tea, or Me?
—Ace
Ace of Spades Lifestyle (TM), aerial division.

A 21-year-old Harris County woman filed a $200,000 lawsuit against American Airlines alleging employees on a flight to Los Angeles from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport failed to protect her while she slept from another passenger who masturbated to her and ejaculated in her hair, according to a lawsuit she filed last week in Tarrant County.

Destined for a Spring Break visit with family and friends March 19, the woman flew from Houston to DFW Airport and had settled into her seat for the last leg of flight 2074 to Los Angeles about 11 p.m., the suit states. The woman slept most of the flight, but awoke about 20 minutes before landing when the pilot announced the plane was on decent into Los Angeles. When the woman opened her eyes, she saw that an unknown man had moved into the seat next to her and was staring at her as he masturbated, the suit states.

The woman turned toward the window in embarrassment and in an act of nervousness began to run her fingers through her hair where she noticed “a substantial amount of an extremely sticky substance in her hair,” the suit states.

The man was arrested.

Squares. In Europe they don't have these childish American hang-ups about assaulting someone with flying genetic material. When I was in France, for example, I sat next to a pleasant grandmother sleeping on a train. Cute as a button; must have been ninety five years young.

Anyhoo, I left more DNA on her than OJ left at Rockingham, and she just stirred a little and said "Touche."

Hey, if you're gonna go classy and try to distract yourself from these matters, you gotta stick with Ace. Any man who can make a joke about sexually assaulting old women has to be the cream of the crop when it comes to conservative thought. And by cream, I do mean, cream.

War is "Romantic?"

Well, you're not going to believe what Bush said today:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush got an earful on Thursday about problems and progress in Afghanistan where a war has dragged on for more than six years but been largely eclipsed by Iraq.

In a videoconference, Bush heard from U.S. military and civilian personnel about the challenges ranging from fighting local government and police corruption to persuading farmers to abandon a lucrative poppy drug trade for other crops.

Bush heard tales of all-night tea drinking sessions to coax local residents into cooperating, and of tribesmen crossing mountains to attend government meetings seen as building blocks for the country's democracy-in-the-making.

"I must say, I'm a little envious," Bush said. "If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed."

"It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks," Bush said.

Yeah, he said that serving in Afghanistan was "in some ways romantic."

This is one of those moments where you drop to one knee and just weep for the spectacle that is the state of the leadership of this country. A grand folly is all they are now. A pathetic, debased and delusional folly entirely of their own making.

Homeland Security Fails To Protect America Again

Watching the Bush Administration fail at protecting America is a full time job for tens of thousands of Americans. I do this for about an hour a day, tops. I can't keep up, and it's hard to be outraged 24x7. One thing I do know is that someone should be watching the cargo that is being brought into this country. It's kind of a no-brainer, isn't it?

So here we go again:

Department of Homeland Security tests of new radiation detection machines last year did not show whether the costly devices performed well enough to be used as planned at ports and borders to protect the country against nuclear attacks or dirty bombs, according to a new report about the process.

The performance tests were organized by the department's Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, which has been trying to deploy the machines along the borders and at ports in a $1.2 billion project, despite allegations from government auditors that the office misled Congress about their effectiveness and later conducted flawed tests to show they worked well.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had said the development and purchase of the machines was a "vital priority" for the department. Officials from the nuclear detection office had asserted the tests -- mandated by Congress before the project was allowed to move forward -- showed they worked well.

In the new report, the review team concluded that the testing last year was not able to show whether the machines, known as advanced spectroscopic portal radiation monitors, or ASPs, could "detect and identify actual objects that might be smuggled" into the country, according to portions of the report released by Congress.

"Even after collecting all available test results, it was difficult to form conclusions about operational effectiveness," the report said.

[snip]

"We should not spend a single penny to install these machines at our ports and borders until valid testing is done to demonstrate that these costly new machines work significantly better than the existing radiation detectors," said Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), the committee chairman.

The project to buy as many as 1,400 ASPs, which cost about $377,000 each, was announced in July 2006. A month later, Government Accountability Office auditors said the nuclear detection office greatly exaggerated the machine's capabilities in a report that spurred congressional approval of the project.

In response to those allegations, Congress mandated that Chertoff take the unusual step of personally certifying that the detectors represent a significant advance over existing detection equipment.

With that certification in mind, the nuclear detection office conducted tests in Nevada early last year. Those tests were called into question when GAO auditors found that department officials had allowed contractors to conduct "dress rehearsals" and calibrate their machines in anticipation of the tests.

Here's what we call "calibrate their machines in anticipation of the tests" in the real world--hardcoding. When you hardcode something so that it can pass a specific type of test, you haven't tested it. Calibrating the machines to detect a certain type of radiation simply means you're not adequately testing something that's supposed to pick up "everything" and all you're doing is fixing the results. All you're doing is putting your finger on the scale so everything weighs the same. Independent testing with the right methods is just plain old basic scientific method 101, and since our government hates science, they just fix the results and roll the dice and we're screwed, so no surprise there.

And, you'll be shocked and outraged to find out that none of this is news. From Sharon Weinberger at Wired.com, an excellent article dated July, 2007:

...As one source warned me: "Some of the technology being proposed can't tell the difference between bananas and dirty bombs." Whether or not that's the case, it's clear the Department of Homeland Security is having problems with the detectors, the Washington Post reports.

Auditors from the Government Accountability Office later found that the detection rates of machines tested by the department were as low as 17 percent and no higher than about 50 percent. The auditors said the department's optimistic report to Congress on the cost and benefits of the machines was based on assumptions instead of facts -- a finding that prompted lawmakers to put the project on hold last year.

The $1.2 billion program was one of the key post-9/11 measures meant to beef up security, but the procurement process has run into a number of problems:

Homeland Security officials tested monitors made by 10 companies. But before the results of those tests were made available to Congress, auditors from the GAO, in March 2006, raised questions about the procurement process.

The auditors predicted cost overruns of as much as $596 million and said the "prototypes of this equipment have not yet been shown to be more effective than the portal monitors now in use." The auditors concluded that it "is not clear that the dramatically higher cost of this equipment would be worth the investment.

It doesn't sound like they've gotten their act together, nor will they, until we dismantle the Department of Homeland Security (another brilliant idea from Joe Lieberman) and put some government-loving competent adults in charge who are empowered to get rid of the dead wood and make things work.

Who The Hell Does He Think He Is?

HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson [pictured here] has decided to adorn the lobby of the headquarters of the Department of Housing and Urban Development with massive pictures of himself.

Forget that Jackson is a mere crony from Texas. Forget that he was supposed to get the memo about how all of the Texas cronies were supposed to hotfoot it out of DC last year. Forget that the man is being investigated. Forget that his tenure will be forgotten the minute the Bush Administration is rolled out of town, either in a paddy wagon or a moving van full of looted treasures and broken promises.

Who the hell puts up a "love me" wall in the lobby of a public building, at the cost of several thousand dollars? (If not more.) The "love me" wall goes in the office, dumbass.

Tour groups need not even go through the inviting metal detectors to admire 20 large, color photographs of the secretary, each about 2 feet by 3 feet. No fewer than five of them feature Jackson with President Bush-- in the Rose Garden, in the Oval Office, chatting together, coming down the steps at the Capitol.

And

Don't forget -- when you finish admiring this exhibit in HUD's southeast entrance, the one used by the public and folks on official business, there is another at the northeast-corner entrance just a few steps away.

This one is equally stunning but a bit smaller, with only 18 photos -- and only two with Bush. There are more photos of Jackson speaking, testifying and looking thoughtful, and one of him talking on a cellphone near a building, which again offers a clue as to his government job.

If that's not largesse, I don't know what is. If that's not a delusional display of pride, hubris and personal self-aggrandizement, I don't know what is. And I don't care what it cost--it's money wasted.

Here's what one commenter at ThinkProgress.org had to say about Jackson:

I was working the Kennedy Center Honors front door in 2004. It’s a major DC social event.

Long line of cars, taxis, limos, formed along the front plaza - everyone had to wait their chance to get out of their cars and into the building. Among those waiting were the trademark black Suburbans containing government officials.

I had been watching one Suburban and follow up vehicle inch forward toward the door over the course of about 5 minutes. When it finally reached the door, out bounded Don Rumsfeld. No lights. No sirens.

About 10 minutes later, two other Suburbans came into view, roared past the line of waiting cars, and with lights and sirens on, jumped the line and cut several cars off. While blocking the entire entrance, 3 security men in bad suits piled out of the chase car. About three minutes later, they popped the door open and out bounded Alphonso Jackson.

I mean, come on. No one cares who the fuck the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is. And he needs that kind of security? WTF???

Thanks again, Republicans. You've foisted another mental case on America, in the form of a crony picked to run an agency of the Federal Government.

Notice how we got through a whole post about HUD without mentioning the dismal job that agency has done over the past seven years? I mean, why get all wonky when you can't get past the reckless delusion of the political appointees?

Hey...wait a minute...delusional self-aggrandizement...putting up pictures of yourself everywhere...didn't we already see this show?

Lying, Cheating, Hypocritical Bastards

Scroll Down So You Can Read About The Fundraiser (SDSYCRATF)
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You've got to love how the media frames an issue:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's last State of the Union address is expected to be heavy on Iraq and the economy, but he also will say he is entering a congressional fray over earmarking taxpayer dollars, administration officials said.

President Bush delivers his State of the Union address in January 2007.

Bush will announce "unprecedented changes" in the way lawmakers earmark money for special projects that benefit their districts or campaign contributors, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said in an e-mail.

The president plans to sign an executive order Tuesday "directing agencies to ignore any future earmarks included in report language, but not in the legislation," Fratto said.

The order will not be retroactive, he added. Democrats were quick to point out that almost half of the 11,735 earmarks approved in 2008 were GOP-sponsored and White House-endorsed.

"The president will say that if these spending items are worthy, Congress should debate them in the open and hold a public vote," Fratto said. "He will state his commitment to veto any spending bill that does not succeed in cutting earmarks in half from 2008 levels."

The move comes after House Republicans challenged Democrats in a letter Friday to join a bipartisan effort to overhaul earmarks. Republicans are expected to use earmarking as an issue against Democrats in the 2008 elections.

Is this executive order even Constitutional? Doesn't it sound like it interferes with the role of Congress, which is to represent the people by being a large, slow, methodical and deliberative body that appropriates and spends the money only after both houses compromise and agree on legislation? There was a reason why the founders put the power of the purse in the hands of the many rather than the Unitary Executive. They knew there would be a George Bush someday.

Here's how that lede should have been written:

Despite widespread use of earmarks by the Republican-controlled Congress for the majority of his time in office, President Bush will attempt to remain relevant for the remainder of his lame-duck term by attempting to sign legislation to curb the use of earmarks.

It's smart politicking--as the GOP continues to descend into hell, the Republicans want to staunch the flow of earmarks into Democratic districts because that money will help re-elect Democrats. Hey--what was Tom DeLay good for? Using earmarks to batter the Democrats because the money flowed into areas where Republican members of the House could keep their seats. What better way to keep the Dems from increasing their control of Congress than by cutting off the earmarks that will help get some of the Democratic members re-elected in close districts?

Here's where we pray for Democrats in the leadership in Congress to shove this issue back down their throats.

935 Administration Lies = 3931 Dead Americans

A recently-concluded study by two independent, non-profit journalism organizations, The Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism, has pinpointed 935 specific instances of the president and members of his administration lying to advance the narrative pushing for a war with Iraq. the study concluded that the lies peddled were "an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."

On at least 532 occasions, administration officials stated adamantly and unequivocally that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida," according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members, writing an overview of the study. "In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003."

Named in the study along with Bush were top officials of the administration during the period studied: Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan.

Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 about Iraq's links to al-Qaida, the study found. That was second only to Powell's 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and al-Qaida. (emphasis added)

The center said the study was based on a database created with public statements over the two years beginning on Sept. 11, 2001, and information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches and interviews.

"The cumulative effect of these false statements - amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts - was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war," the study concluded.

So - four Americans who stepped up to serve have died for every lie these feckless bastards told. So far.

Yet Nancy the Nattering Nabob still insists that impeachment is off the table.

So how about the gallows? Can we apply them yet?

Another Reason to Despise the Useless Media

First of all, I'd like to point out that there are two things that an American President should never do while standing in Saudi Arabia, the holy land of the Islamic faith:

1. Use medieval terms like "crusade"
2. Wave around medieval weapons like "swords"

---------------------------------------------

This little piece is a classic example of a member of the media making their own experiences larger than the story they are covering and humiliating themselves, unknowingly, of course, in the process:

By MARTHA RADDATZ
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 14, 2008

The Bush administration announced Monday that it intended to sell 900 Joint Direct Attack Munitions -- or JDAMs those big, precise GPS-controlled bombs -- to Saudi Arabia, a country that won't even let me go to the hotel gym because I am a woman.

The announcement that the JDAMS would be added to a $20 billion weapons package for the region came at almost the precise time I walked into the Marriott hotel gym in Riyadh, to inquire how late it would be open.

A hotel, by the way, that is an American-owned Marriott.

"Sorry, ma'am, but ladies are not allowed in here," the man at the reception desk told me.

Her experience was so important--sooooo important--she put it in the lede! Granted, this is from the ABC "Reporters Notebook" section and is NOT an actual news story per se. It is an item you can find on their website. It is an item about the experiences of Raddatz covering Bush's trip overseas. And you better believe that she is more important than those pesky JDAMs.

As you might imagine, this did not sit well with me.

I'm in Saudi Arabia covering the president's trip across the Middle East. After eight brutal days on the road, hopping from country to country, you need to grab a workout whenever you can.

So I offered what I thought was a reasonable compromise. Let the men work out for a few hours, then let the ladies work out.

"Let me check," the man at reception offered.

I knew it wouldn't happen, but I had to try. After a few minutes, I received the answer I expected. "Sorry, ma'am, but that is not possible."

Now, don't get me wrong.

I respect other cultures and am a seasoned traveler in the Mideast. I know in some places they separate women and men, hence my attempt at offering the compromise.

But this is the first time in decades I was made to feel like a second-class citizen, and it is not a pleasant feeling.

Being denied access to an exclusive gym in an expensive hotel makes YOU feel like a second class citizen? Wow. Here's what makes ME feel like a second class citizen: knowing there is no Habeus Corpus, knowing my government won't protect my city from standing water, knowing this is a war in Iraq without end and we're not being given candidates for the Presidency that the media likes who will end the war, knowing the right to privacy is now gone and the Director of National Intelligence insists on being able to read this blog post as I publish it and send it to Blogger, knowing there is no legitimate right to strike in this country because unions and union organization is a thing of the past, knowing this country can't stop spending money like it's going out of style, knowing there is no competence left in government and knowing my grandchildren are going to be paying for this bullshit for most of their natural lives.

Raddatz has to quantify her delusional ranting about gym access--the horror of it all!--and bring up a topic that she pretends to care about:

Of course, my experience of being turned away at the hotel gym pales in comparison to the suffering of many Saudi women. The country has an abysmal record when it comes to women's rights.

Recently, a woman who was gang raped was sentenced to six months in prison and 200 lashes by the Saudi legal system.

That's a great story, Martha. How many Saudi officials have you spoken to about this topic? Did you ask the man standing next to Bush and holding his hand about it? Did you ask Bush to take the comical sword off his shoulder and speak to the issue? Or were you sidetracked by complaining about not being able to futz about on the elliptical machine?

Here's the kicker:

But I wondered how President Bush, a self-avowed exercise fanatic, would feel if he were turned away from a gym.

That's right--because you're just as important as the President of the United States of America, aren't you? You're still living under the illusion that the working press serves as some sort of "check and balance" on the Executive Branch of government, aren't you? It must have been exciting that first day at Journalism School, knowing that you were going into an honored profession that included the likes of Murrow, Brinkley, Woodward, Bernstein and Cronkite. And you must have harbored that feeling that, one day, you'd uncover and unravel a huge story and make a politician resign and change things for the better. What happened? Did someone forget to send you an invite to a cocktail party somewhere down the line and now you just want to complain about things that don't matter? Oh, I get it. The call of the village was too great. You decided to conform rather than stick out. How could you turn on "your own kind" and report the news that would make people "uncomfortable?" After all, you're just as important as the President of the United States of America, right? Because you and he are the same high class of people, aren't you?

And we wonder why bloggers are so unhinged these days. I know, I know--more pictures of bears fighting!

[Special Bonus Action Underwater Polar Bear Happy Fight!]

I wonder if George saw a hint of this when he looked into Pootie-Poot's soul?

The Bush administration lost a big one on Monday when Russia announced that it had delivered a shipment of nuclear fuel rods to Iran to be used in a reactor that is to be used for power generation. Russia stressed that the fuel rods are in Iran, but will be under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) , the United Nations agency that monitors nuclear material across the globe.

Back in Washington, aWol nearly strained something as he struggled mightily to construct a sentence and make a comment that wouldn't do any further damage to the fragile relationship the United States currently has with Russia. He managed to not only tamp down his urge to criticize, but also to offer something along the lines of praise...“If the Russians are willing to do that, which I support, then the Iranians do not need to learn how to enrich,” President Bush said Monday. “If the Iranians accept that uranium for a civilian nuclear power plant, then there’s no need for them to learn how to enrich.”

The timing could not have been worse. Just two weeks ago, the intelligence shops released their NIE that revealed that the Iranians stopped their weapons program in 2003. That NIE cut the legs from under aWol and Cheney, and has dampened the call for war with Iran.

Even thought the administration has moved to keep the pressure on the Iranian government, the release of the NIE has served to embolden Iran, and it has made it highly unlikely that China and Russia will be on board for the next round of sanctions by the United Nations Security Council.

The delivery of the fuel rods to the Iranian facility will certainly embolden them further.

As for Bush administration officials, their public comments were one thing, and their private comments were another thing entirely. “There is no doubt that Russia and the rest of the world want to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon,” was the public comment made by White House spokesman, Gordon D. Johndroe. “And today’s announcement provides one more avenue for the Iranians to make a strategic choice to suspend enrichment.”

In private, however, they lamented the fact that the Russians didn't stall on the delivery, and project an image of a united front that was hanging together and toeing a hard line. “We for many years tried to stop it, and for the last year we’ve known there was no way to stop it, and that it was coming, and we held our breath on the timing,” a senior administration official said.

All that breath-holding was for naught.

Two weeks ago, Russia alerted the Bush administration that the details had been worked out, including the placement of safeguards that would allow for greater international inspections at Bushehr, and that the shipment would proceed.

The U.S. had already agreed, in principle, that Russia could provide the fuel rods, so long as safeguards were in place to handle the spent fuel. With that position clarified, there was no choice for the U.S. to make - the Bush administration had to accept that they had no grounds to keep pressuring Russia to delay the shipment.

So the shipment went forward. Now the question remains - was it purely economics? Or was there a subtle, hidden message? Is this muscle flexing by Russia routine, or something that we should be concerned about?

I'm gonna hazard a guess, and say it's probably the latter.

Heckuva job, there, George. Heckuva job.

Victor Davis Hanson Starts Moving the Goalposts

“I have written too much about why it is a bad idea to bomb Iran now.” — Victor Davis Hanson, 12/5/2007

Serial historical revisionist Victor Davis Hanson has decided that he's had enough of the Kool-Aid for a while, and with the new NIE report on Iran definitely blowing the winds in other directions, he's decided to basically ignore the fact that he's advocated bombing Iran.

When you don't expect people to hold you accountable, this is what you do.

When you figure no one will parse previous statements, this is what you do.

The following are some examples of doublespeak and dishonesty, courtesy of Professor Hanson. Draw your own conclusions, if you please.

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VDH on January 13, 2006:And Iran poses far greater risks than in the past for Israeli pilots flying in over the heart of the Muslim world, with 200-300 possible nuclear sites that are burrowed into mountains, bunkers and suburbs. Such a mission would require greater flight distances, messy refueling, careful intelligence, and the need to put Israeli forces on alert for an Iranian counterstrike or a terrorist move from Lebanon. Former Israeli friends like Turkey are now not so cordial, and the violation of Islamic airspace might in the short-term draw an ugly response, despite the eventual relief in Arab capitals at the elimination of the Iranian nuclear arsenal.

[snip]

The fourth scenario is as increasingly dreaded as it is apparently inevitable — a U.S. air strike. Most hope that it can be delayed, since its one virtue — the elimination of the Iranian nuclear threat — must ipso facto outweigh the multifaceted disadvantages.

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VDH on Bush meeting:"At one point during his class … Hanson related a story where he was in the Oval Office … discussing the matter of Iran [with the president]. Hanson closed his story by saying that Bush vowed to do something about Iran before his term expired."

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VDH on appeasement:Instead, most experts explained why violent fanatics might have some half-legitimate grievance behind their deadly harvest each year of a few Americans in the wrong place at the wrong time. These experts cautioned that, instead of bombing and shooting killers abroad who otherwise would eventually reach us at home, Americans should take care not to disturb Iranian terrorists during Ramadan—rather than to remember that Muslims attacked Israel precisely during that holy period.

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VDH saying we should NOT bomb Iran, with all kinds of caveats that suggest will will HAVE to bomb Iran, at some point:Of course, there is no reason yet to believe that Iran’s megalomaniac plans are stalled. There is much less reason to think that the world is galvanizing fast or furiously enough against the loony Ahmadinejad. But there are some positive signs that Iran is not nearly as strong as it thinks, and the general winds of the world are blowing against it, ever so slowly — and thanks in large part to careful U.S. policy and the innately self-destructive tendencies of Iranian theocracy.

Note that the loud Democratic 2008 candidates have ceased calling for direct talks with Iran (the inexperienced Obama, the exception proving the rule). They can offer no policy other than the present one. For all the dangers, the spectacle of Ahmadinejad has been a great gift to the Western world — loudly embodying, in its raw, pure form, the evil which Iranian theocracy inevitably produces.

So we should continue with the present path — and not bomb or have surrogates bomb Iran. That option is still down the road. For as long as it is possible, the best-case scenario is not a smoking Iran, but a humiliated theocracy that slowly implodes before the world, displaying in their disgrace what the mullahs did to themselves — and perhaps a small reminder of those helpful shoves from us.

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VDH on the European reaction to Iran in 2005:The European way is not the answer, as we see from the farcical negotiations over Iran’s time bomb. Struggling with a small military, unsustainable entitlement promises, little real economic growth, high unemployment, falling birth rates, angry unassimilated minorities, and a suicidal policy of estrangement from its benefactor the United States, Europeans show already an 11th-hour change of heart as we see in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, and soon in France.

Europe’s policy about Iran’s nuclear program can best be summed up as “Hurry up, sane and Western Israel, and take out this awful thing — so we can damn you Zionist aggressors for doing so in our morning papers.”

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A little later, I'm going to take apart his entire "Lancing the Boil" article, which stands as one of the worst pieces of political prediction ever published.

But for right now, please note: some of the neo-con apologists and pro-Bush Administration cheerleaders are quietly moving the goalposts and are trying to position themselves for the new dynamic in American politics that will take hole when Bush is finally out of office.

That dynamic will probably strike fair-minded people everywhere as dishonest hypocrisy wrapped in bullshit and dipped in feckless sauce.

A tip o' the hat to Think Progress for giving me a chance to find some other examples of dishonesty and deceit.

No, You DON'T Get to Move the Goalposts...

Unbelievable...

Do they really think they're going to get away with denying that they're just moving the goalposts each and every time it looks like they're failing to make any significant progress in Iraq?

From the NY Times:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 — With American military successes outpacing political gains in Iraq, the Bush administration has lowered its expectation of quickly achieving major steps toward unifying the country, including passage of a long-stymied plan to share oil revenues and holding regional elections.

Instead, administration officials say they are focusing their immediate efforts on several more limited but achievable goals in the hope of convincing Iraqis, foreign governments and Americans that progress is being made toward the political breakthroughs that the military campaign of the past 10 months was supposed to promote.

NO MORE MONEY! Make them accept a timetable for withdrawing US Troops and the Webb Amendment, giving service members equal time at home station for time spent deployed in Iraq.

This should go out as a wake-up call to Democrats who want to waffle and flip-flop--we're not only going to demand "better Democrats" but we're going to go after Democrats who cave in and support the administration over the needs of our troops and the overwhelming desire of the American People to end this war.

The US Ambassador had this to say:

Ambassador Crocker drew a distinction between the effectiveness of the American military buildup in quelling violence and the influence the United States could bring to bear at a political level.

“The political stuff does not lend itself to sending out a couple of battalions to help the Iraqi’s pass legislation,” he said.

Still, he said, there were some positive signs that Iraqis were interested in making headway on some thorny issues. Provincial governors, he said, were pressing for a law to define their powers. “We are past the point where it is an American agenda,” the ambassador said. “It is what needs to be done in Iraqi terms.”

I want to see Democrats out there, NOW, calling out the Administration for moving the goalposts. I want to see outrage and indignation. And I want it backed up with votes and with deeds.

Hear that, Presidential candidates?

Meanwhile, Huckleberry Graham sets the stage for the coup that was planned when the surge strategy was announced:

BLITZER: But what happens if they fail to divide up the oil, if they fail to get those elections, they don’t disband all the various militias by the end of the year? Then what does the United States do?

GRAHAM: So I am hopeful that some of these people at the local level will have a stronger voice. And I’m hopeful that Talabani, Maliki, and Hashemi and all the major players can have a breakthrough.

I’m asking them to do things they say are important for their country. The conditions are right now and, quite honestly, if they can’t do it by the end of the year, I have real doubts that this group will ever do it so we need a new political strategy to find a group that can.

WHAT???

"We'll find a group that can?"

I thought we had a law against overthrowing foreign governments. You'd think a sitting US Senator who pretends to know something about the law would know that.

Pardon me while I reset my indignation and outrage meters...

When all else fails, change the talking points!

From the department of moving goalposts:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 — With American military successes outpacing political gains in Iraq, the Bush administration has lowered its expectation of quickly achieving major steps toward unifying the country, including passage of a long-stymied plan to share oil revenues and holding regional elections.

Instead, administration officials say they are focusing their immediate efforts on several more limited but achievable goals in the hope of convincing Iraqis, foreign governments and Americans that progress is being made toward the political breakthroughs that the military campaign of the past 10 months was supposed to promote.

Now, the focus has shifted to smaller, short-term goals - like authorizing a budget for the nation. (But the Iraqis are already in the process of doing that anyway.)

And of course, the Bush maladministration is all hot and bothered to get the U.N. mandate that authorizes the presence of the American occupiers renewed. (They do this routinely because it's a puppet government that would not exist for more than thirty days if the Americans weren't propping them up.)

And de-de-baathification, so members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party can reenter government service. (That's merely pro forma - former Baathists have been rehired on the q.t. for some time, because they are the ones who actually know how to, you know, do the jobs.)

The administration insists that they have not given up on their larger goals, averring that they will be met *eventually.* But damnit, they have to figure out a way to make lemonade, and do it pronto.

They sold the AEI's Surge™ scheme by packaging it as a necessity, needed to give the political process "breathing space" to achieve reconciliation. Tours were extended, leaving soldiers in combat for 15 months with only 12 months dwell-time. They sacrificed American lives like they meant nothing. And the Iraqi parliament went on vacation the entire month of August.
Tony "Karma's a Bitch" Snow excused the fecklessness of the Iraqi politicians with a blasé "It's 130 degrees in Baghdad in August," conveniently forgetting that his war-criminal boss sent American fighting forces into that hellhole, and they didn't even get the benefit of operating in an air conditioned Green Zone when it was 130 degrees.

But reconciliation didn't happen.

In fact, Maliki and Hashemi snipe at one another like two bleached-blond teenage girls vying for head cheerleader in a one-high-school Texas football town.

Instead of sucking it up and admitting that things didn't work as planned, they are insisting that modest steps such as these - if taken soon - could, maybe, perhaps, if they cross their fingers and say the right magic words in just the right order and cadence, perhaps while hopping on one foot and chanting "I believe" - set the stage for "more progress." You know - like the Surge™ set the stage for the arming of the Sunni thugs who in the past were the insurgents who were killing Americans. (Well, give 'em guns and money and you can rent some temporary loyalty...)

But not to fear! aWol is "applying pressure" on the Iraqi government to produce some sort of political progress. “If we can show progress outside of the security sector alone, that will go a long way to demonstrate that we are in fact on a sustainable path to stability in Iraq,” said one senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity. On Saturday, [U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan] Crocker said the military had created opportunities for progress, and added that there were "indications" that Iraqis wanted to move forward on the local and national levels. But he quickly dialed back the expectations and cautioned against expecting quick results on the core issues.

“We are seeing encouraging signs of movement. This is going to be a long, hard slog,” he said, apparently channeling Rumsfeld, "It is going to be one thing at a time, maybe two things at a time, we hope with increasing momentum,” he said. “It is a long-term process.”

Although violence has ticked downward in recent months, the administration has not touted this development, because if they did, scrutiny would surely follow, and that they certainly don't want.

Furthermore, there are clear signs that any influence Americans have over Iraqi politicians is dwindling. In the absence of religious and ethnic reconciliation, the expectation has been dialed back to "accommodation." An American official, again speaking on condition of anonymity, said “We can’t pass their legislation. We can’t make them like each other. We can’t even make them talk to each other."

Crocker at least realizes that “The political stuff does not lend itself to sending out a couple of battalions to help the Iraqi’s pass legislation.” Still, he insisted that there are some positive signs that Iraqis are interested in making their own headway. For example, he pointed to Provincial governors, who are pressing for a law to define their powers. “We are past the point where it is an American agenda,” the ambassador said. “It is what needs to be done in Iraqi terms.” (In plain English - this is how warlords are made.)

Officials in both Baghdad and Washington are both realistic about the fact that military gains are not enough to overcome the deep divides that separate Iraqi factions. But in both capitals there are leaders who still engage in magical thinking. “We need a grand bargain among all the groups,” said a member of the Iraqi government - speaking - you guessed it - anonymously.

The most disturbing part of the whole thing is the repeated references to "long hard slogs" and the allusions to extended, multi-year commitments of American forces, like it's no big deal. But it is a big deal. Maybe not to these worthless, faithless and feckless jackals who have nothing to lose. But to the rest of us, it sure as hell is.

And if you agree, vote Democratic. Give the congress a Democratic president, and just as importantly the votes to end the obstruction of the Republican wingnuts who have no qualms about obstructing progress at the expense of American lives.

George aWol Bush has made the biggest mess the world has ever seen, and intends to keep the fucking up going apace and leave a mess so dire that the next president won't be able to extract us from.

Don't let him get away with it. Congress holds the pursestrings. Not one dime without strings attached. Not one dime.

So much for the success of the Surge™

When the Resident stood in front of the nation on January 10 and announced that he was going to go ahead and implement another American Enterprise Institute pipe dream the reason he gave for escalating forces was to give the nascent Iraqi government the "breathing space" to achieve political reconciliation.

So much for that grand ideal.

The sniping is incessant, the skirmishes bruising. For months, the verbal warfare between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, and his Sunni vice-president, Tariq al-Hashemi, has been escalating.

Now Iraqi politicians and American diplomats and analysts fear that the very public feuding between two of Iraq's most influential leaders will doom even the minimal hopes that exist for progress on a host of key benchmarks — such as holding provincial elections and equitably sharing oil revenues.

"This is not merely about personalities quarreling over something trivial," said Anthony Cordesman, an expert on the Middle East for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. "It's about control of the state. ... It's about basic interests, factional and sectarian, and survival."

In spite of a decline in violence there has been no hint of political reconciliation, and no progress on any of the benchmarks in anyones assessment; Iraqi, United Nations or United States.

In the absence of political progress, it is feared that violence will escalate once more when the "Surge™" ends and the United States begins to reduce the number of troops in Iraq.

The widening social chasms in Iraq go far beyond the bickering and sniping between Hashemi and Maliki, but the hostility between the two leaders illustrates clearly the failure of the Surge™ to bring Iraq's troubles to an end, in spite of the reduction in violence.

On Tuesday, Maliki accused Hashimi of abusing his position on Iraq's 3-member presidency council and blocking legislation passed by the Shiite-dominated parliament. (To become law, legislation passed by the parliament must be unanimously approved by the council.)

Maliki also ridiculed Hashemi's Iraqi Sunni political party, calling it "unrepresentative" of the country's minority Sunnis, in spite of the fact that the party is the largest Sunni bloc in the parliament.

Hashemi, a former military officer who never joined the Baath party, has taken his shots at Maliki on a few occasions as well, especially regarding security and human rights issues. He has pushed for amnesty for thousands of Sunnis who have been detained and imprisoned. He has visited overcrowded prisons with television cameras in tow to criticize Maliki and his government over the treatment of detainees, most of whom are Sunni Arabs. Maliki dismissed Hashimi's forays into the prison system as nothing more than political grandstanding.

Hashemi has accused the Maliki government of turning a blind eye to the sectarian violence that has claimed the lives of three of his siblings - and the accusation outrages Maliki.

American officials are frustrated that the Iraqi leaders are not acting to resolve the impasse and Phil Reeker, an official at the U.S. embassy last week urged the two men to put their differences aside. "Leaders have to take advantage of this opportunity to continue serious work in focusing on the most important matters at hand to move the country forward. I think it's very important that the Iraqi people are looking to their leaders to provide them with progress, with security, with services, with jobs, and it is legislative activity that is going to lead to that."

Other Iraqi politicians are frustrated with the situation as well. "It's becoming more than political; it's becoming personal, and that's unfortunate. I blame both of them. I hope they can just get over it, because it's affecting the credibility of the government," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of parliament. "At this moment, they should be together now that the security situation is better. Iraq needs teamwork."

A GAO report issued last month found that the Iraqi government had failed to realize most of the 18 benchmarks established by the U.S. as signs of progress and reconciliation. Of vital importance - the GAO found that sectarianism within the government undermines the reconciliation effort. No one sees a quick solution.

Anthony Cordesman put the disputes in historical context, and put it bluntly - "There is not going to be reconciliation because of some magic agreement that will make everybody forget past grievances."

Othman, the Kurdish parliamentarian, agreed. "The lack of trust is the main issue," he said. "Maliki is not ready to have Sunnis as part of the decision-making process. There is a distrust there."

From the outset, the Bush administration has failed to consider the historic and ethnic realities of Iraq. That is why the situation is so thoroughly and utterly FUBAR, and was doomed to be from inception. Continuing the American presence only aggravates the situation. As long as American forces occupy the country, it is not going to get any better.

When faced with no good options, the least-bad option is the only intelligent choice. And right now, the least-bad option is to get the hell out of there and let the Iraqis solve their own problems. The wrong done to that country and it's citizens is of aWol's making, but we can no more solve the problems with military force than one can put out a fire with kerosene.